Lying down on the firm bed in my room I think of the dream-like vacation that was.
Flying over ranges and ranges of mountains that looked in some parts like brownie coated with icing dust, we descended down into heavenly Queenstown, a town befitting its name. The chill in the air despite sunshine made it clear why Auckland winter is considered tropical. Sorting ourselves with rental car, we drove into the city centre. Some towns have a certain obvious vibe to them, Queenstown's is most certainly adventure and holiday. As if it says you will not be the same when you leave this place. Yummy thai lunch and a stroll along the lake front later we checked into a hotel- the first in years! Whenever we've stayed out of town, its mostly been baches, airbnbs, holiday homes and the like. Where there is a kitchen, separate rooms, hopefully a bookshelf and it also means cooking a meal or 2 at home, cleaning up before checking out etc. This always makes us feel like we are doing more of the same on vacation, so Prash decided we need to stay in a hotel n not do any regular chores given how much we've been worn down doing it for half an year without a break.
The apple trees in the garden, the postcard like view of lake wakatipu and the towering remarkables ranges, clean sheets and a cosy warm room. Could not have asked for more!
Our holidays are generally packed with activities am to pm to maximise our experience of anything and everything a place we visit has to offer. This time, we had a couple of things to do and no specific plan as it all depended on weather. A part of me was ready to sit in the room/garden, stare outside and read a book/play indoor games and drink coffee/wine for all 5 days. Luck though had different plans.
We unpacked, and shook the apple tree for snacking on fresh-as-they-can-get apples and started driving down to Glenorchy on what's touted as one of the most scenic drives one can go on. In 15 min, it was clear why. The mountains so huge that their vastness is incomprehensible.... That u r driving at 100kmph n the view of the mountain seems to change in ultra slow mo speed..... that planes carrying over 100 ppl seem like a white seagull .. tiny against the backdrop of the mountains.Everywhere I turn was a postcard of nature. White sheep on Green grass, blue lake, white snowy on top- brown dry at the base hills and all of this mirroring onto the still lake.
We were too late for kayaking but visited historically significant places -a boatshed from the 1800s and such and drove further down along rural roads where we saw cars/ppl/farms occasionally. It started to feel like an escape. We spotted a waterfall that looked like ones in depiction of paradises. long white straight veil of falls with that pleasant constant sound that only water hitting relentlessly against rocks can make.Every time we saw someone riding a horse, Prash kept saying we should move here esp camp Glenorchy where every house is trying to be n is very close to zero impact to environs. Loosing our way and having no GPS support would normally cause one of us to complain,but not that evening. We made our way to Kinloch. Sitting for half an hour at Kinloch Lodge has got to be one of the memorable moments of life. The ambiance of warm wood fire place, the French waitress serving mulled warm spiced wine, the view of the snowy mountains outside in that baby blue/pink light at dusk and the crisp chill in the air outside, the old timer saws & fishing rods on the walls, tea pots in the big wooden almirah, all atleast from a 100 years ago, the slow music with that deep voice set at perfect volume, made us forget where we were. It felt like we had traveled back atleast a century.
Next day morning buffet breakfast had K all excited. She self-taught how to work the coffee machine n made us both long blacks and got herself hot chocolates. A thing she loved to do every morning for the rest of the holiday. The plan for the day was to go to the ski fields. I imagined i would go on a few toboggan rides, help build a snowman and then sit in the mountain top cafe and enjoy the benefits of living in this time and age where comfort of coffee and food can be had at that height. Before heading off to the ski fields we went to town to check out ski-hires. The sight of it all was enough to tempt me and prash to get gear for ourselves too ! The monster sized heavy boots, long ski and poles and pants later we we're thrilled to start the day. Watching a falcon pecking on a roadkill possum for breakfast and a seagull scooping up fish from the lake with hope beaming out of our eyes like the rays of warm sun we set off to The Remarkables. Wowing at the sights and stopping for a pic more than once we felt like nature's display kept unfurling at every turn.
Skiing: K and I took lessons with separate groups while Prash somehow miraculously learnt to stop,start and move in those skis by himself. My lessons were frustrating to start with. My legs just had forgotten to follow what my brain instructed them to do. Walk parallely sideways the instructor would say to me and me to my legs but they would just slide downnnnnn. I fell down a few times, once on a slope and had to be man-lifted literally by a kind fellow far more superiorly skilled skier.
Embarrassment and shame somehow seemed to have no place and once I got a hang on leaning forward and letting gravity do its thing, it changed from frustration to fun. Driving down the mountain passing from one carpark to another the ppl and their lone cars parked at the edge of cliffs like in advertisements for SUVs. The spectacular sunset and the hues it painted on the sky are something neither my camera could capture nor my words can describe.
An unexpected adventure of skiing had us going back for more the next day. We split the day in 2 sessions. The first half was more lessons for K while we both did our own thing and tried not to fall flat on our faces. The second half was all of us going up and down the ski-ramp rightly called the magical carpet and skiing down the beginners slopes. We must have gone up and down close to 40 times and when they closed the ski-field at the end of the day we felt a true sense of joy. The one that comes with letting go of being held back, one that comes with thrill of learning a new skill. Standing at the top of the slope you look around at the glistening white snow on one mountain, on another powdery snow on which there is the shadow of moving clouds. Fill your lungs with the freshest air there is, smile and push the poles crushing into the snow next to your skies. Next moment u propel urself leaning forward and keep ur head up..you feel like a child coming down a slide, you feel like you are sitting in a water slide and then u bend ur knees and point ur poles backwards...letting only the skies glide u downwards like a bird and immerse urself completely in that experience. Once u come down, you know why you cant stop urself from going back up again :)
Next morning after Lo mein n cupcakes for breakfast, we went to Arrowtown. Idyllic river and colorful leaves on trees. It was the peak of winter and there were autumn colored leaves still, I can only imagine how amazing this must be in Autumn. Reading stories of gold panning in the river and the life of early settlers in this area, we ate copious amounts of chocolates and waited for the bike rentals to open. Half a day of trail biking seemed like a great idea and we peddled our way up and down the first few trails. The icy blue, cobalt blue from glacier water, streams from snow-melts all creating different colors and different sounds kept us going. The uphills started getting tricky for k and me. We both simply got off the bike and pushed the bike and continued onwards stopping to marvel at the berry trails and beautiful bridges along the way. It started raining and temperature started dropping close to zero.So we wisely decided to head back and did about 18k cycling in all.
We went back to the hotel, played silly games, read books, went to the spa and sauna and called it a day. Staying just a couple of hours away from such getaways to natural paradises makes me feel immensely lucky and want more of it!
Flying over ranges and ranges of mountains that looked in some parts like brownie coated with icing dust, we descended down into heavenly Queenstown, a town befitting its name. The chill in the air despite sunshine made it clear why Auckland winter is considered tropical. Sorting ourselves with rental car, we drove into the city centre. Some towns have a certain obvious vibe to them, Queenstown's is most certainly adventure and holiday. As if it says you will not be the same when you leave this place. Yummy thai lunch and a stroll along the lake front later we checked into a hotel- the first in years! Whenever we've stayed out of town, its mostly been baches, airbnbs, holiday homes and the like. Where there is a kitchen, separate rooms, hopefully a bookshelf and it also means cooking a meal or 2 at home, cleaning up before checking out etc. This always makes us feel like we are doing more of the same on vacation, so Prash decided we need to stay in a hotel n not do any regular chores given how much we've been worn down doing it for half an year without a break.
The apple trees in the garden, the postcard like view of lake wakatipu and the towering remarkables ranges, clean sheets and a cosy warm room. Could not have asked for more!
Our holidays are generally packed with activities am to pm to maximise our experience of anything and everything a place we visit has to offer. This time, we had a couple of things to do and no specific plan as it all depended on weather. A part of me was ready to sit in the room/garden, stare outside and read a book/play indoor games and drink coffee/wine for all 5 days. Luck though had different plans.
We unpacked, and shook the apple tree for snacking on fresh-as-they-can-get apples and started driving down to Glenorchy on what's touted as one of the most scenic drives one can go on. In 15 min, it was clear why. The mountains so huge that their vastness is incomprehensible.... That u r driving at 100kmph n the view of the mountain seems to change in ultra slow mo speed..... that planes carrying over 100 ppl seem like a white seagull .. tiny against the backdrop of the mountains.Everywhere I turn was a postcard of nature. White sheep on Green grass, blue lake, white snowy on top- brown dry at the base hills and all of this mirroring onto the still lake.
We were too late for kayaking but visited historically significant places -a boatshed from the 1800s and such and drove further down along rural roads where we saw cars/ppl/farms occasionally. It started to feel like an escape. We spotted a waterfall that looked like ones in depiction of paradises. long white straight veil of falls with that pleasant constant sound that only water hitting relentlessly against rocks can make.Every time we saw someone riding a horse, Prash kept saying we should move here esp camp Glenorchy where every house is trying to be n is very close to zero impact to environs. Loosing our way and having no GPS support would normally cause one of us to complain,but not that evening. We made our way to Kinloch. Sitting for half an hour at Kinloch Lodge has got to be one of the memorable moments of life. The ambiance of warm wood fire place, the French waitress serving mulled warm spiced wine, the view of the snowy mountains outside in that baby blue/pink light at dusk and the crisp chill in the air outside, the old timer saws & fishing rods on the walls, tea pots in the big wooden almirah, all atleast from a 100 years ago, the slow music with that deep voice set at perfect volume, made us forget where we were. It felt like we had traveled back atleast a century.
Next day morning buffet breakfast had K all excited. She self-taught how to work the coffee machine n made us both long blacks and got herself hot chocolates. A thing she loved to do every morning for the rest of the holiday. The plan for the day was to go to the ski fields. I imagined i would go on a few toboggan rides, help build a snowman and then sit in the mountain top cafe and enjoy the benefits of living in this time and age where comfort of coffee and food can be had at that height. Before heading off to the ski fields we went to town to check out ski-hires. The sight of it all was enough to tempt me and prash to get gear for ourselves too ! The monster sized heavy boots, long ski and poles and pants later we we're thrilled to start the day. Watching a falcon pecking on a roadkill possum for breakfast and a seagull scooping up fish from the lake with hope beaming out of our eyes like the rays of warm sun we set off to The Remarkables. Wowing at the sights and stopping for a pic more than once we felt like nature's display kept unfurling at every turn.
Skiing: K and I took lessons with separate groups while Prash somehow miraculously learnt to stop,start and move in those skis by himself. My lessons were frustrating to start with. My legs just had forgotten to follow what my brain instructed them to do. Walk parallely sideways the instructor would say to me and me to my legs but they would just slide downnnnnn. I fell down a few times, once on a slope and had to be man-lifted literally by a kind fellow far more superiorly skilled skier.
Embarrassment and shame somehow seemed to have no place and once I got a hang on leaning forward and letting gravity do its thing, it changed from frustration to fun. Driving down the mountain passing from one carpark to another the ppl and their lone cars parked at the edge of cliffs like in advertisements for SUVs. The spectacular sunset and the hues it painted on the sky are something neither my camera could capture nor my words can describe.
An unexpected adventure of skiing had us going back for more the next day. We split the day in 2 sessions. The first half was more lessons for K while we both did our own thing and tried not to fall flat on our faces. The second half was all of us going up and down the ski-ramp rightly called the magical carpet and skiing down the beginners slopes. We must have gone up and down close to 40 times and when they closed the ski-field at the end of the day we felt a true sense of joy. The one that comes with letting go of being held back, one that comes with thrill of learning a new skill. Standing at the top of the slope you look around at the glistening white snow on one mountain, on another powdery snow on which there is the shadow of moving clouds. Fill your lungs with the freshest air there is, smile and push the poles crushing into the snow next to your skies. Next moment u propel urself leaning forward and keep ur head up..you feel like a child coming down a slide, you feel like you are sitting in a water slide and then u bend ur knees and point ur poles backwards...letting only the skies glide u downwards like a bird and immerse urself completely in that experience. Once u come down, you know why you cant stop urself from going back up again :)
Next morning after Lo mein n cupcakes for breakfast, we went to Arrowtown. Idyllic river and colorful leaves on trees. It was the peak of winter and there were autumn colored leaves still, I can only imagine how amazing this must be in Autumn. Reading stories of gold panning in the river and the life of early settlers in this area, we ate copious amounts of chocolates and waited for the bike rentals to open. Half a day of trail biking seemed like a great idea and we peddled our way up and down the first few trails. The icy blue, cobalt blue from glacier water, streams from snow-melts all creating different colors and different sounds kept us going. The uphills started getting tricky for k and me. We both simply got off the bike and pushed the bike and continued onwards stopping to marvel at the berry trails and beautiful bridges along the way. It started raining and temperature started dropping close to zero.So we wisely decided to head back and did about 18k cycling in all.
We went back to the hotel, played silly games, read books, went to the spa and sauna and called it a day. Staying just a couple of hours away from such getaways to natural paradises makes me feel immensely lucky and want more of it!
